"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

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Friday, 29 June 2012

Speed work at 90 F? Vitamin E?

For the Europeans here: 90 F is indeed 32 C

I have been dragging my feet so to speak about doing any sort of speed work since Grandma's Marathon. But that was 12 days ago now. I'm not sore or injured and yesterday was an easy day. So the time was now.

My excuses:
1. the track is too hot in the sun
2. the treadmill is too boring and injurious

So I settled for yet another long run... until the guy shows up. What was he thinking? Nobody passes me in Hixon (except SR and Jake Hegge, okay, okay - I'm kidding -sort of). So I ran as fast as I could to drop him for about a mile up a large hill and doubled over, dripping in sweat. And after I took a large drink of water I realized it was fun. So for the next three hours I did intervals in the shade of the forest up to "look out point" which has a view of the entire city of La Crosse, The Mississippi and La Crescent, MN. Hill repeats, I guess, or bluff repeats more specifically. It was badass and awesome. And the only way I got myself to do it was the promise that I could write about it afterwards. Plus my heart will thank me for this when I'm 60 if I keep it up.

Abstinence

This could potentially be about SR's current trip to Minneapolis, but it is actually about sugar free gum. It is the next thing I need to give up. My stomach does not do well with it. Please give me convincing reasons to stop chewing a whole pack a day!! I know it is not healthy, but now that my belly has shrunk, I'm getting lazy.

Speaking of which, I saw a guy buying lots of packs of A&W Diet Root Beer today at the grocery store and trust me, I took note of his belly - I couldn't help but speculate. Who knows if it was the diet soda in his case. I just wonder how many people deal with the same problem I had and don't know it.

Vitamin E

I was looking at little finger food snacks for Mattias at this same store (Woodman's) and they sell little banana cookies for infants fortified with Vitamin E!!!! What on earth are they thinking? Vitamin E supplementation is good for nothing and has been associated with increased mortality in so many population studies. WHY would they put this in infant food? Does anyone know of a single reason a person should take Vitamin E??? I can't think of one. This then led me to realize there is also Vitamin E in my prenatal/lactating mom vits, which I should throw in the trash. I now understand why so many people who live in the US are freaks about looking at ingredients. I am certainly becoming one. I keep telling SR I want to get a small community of houses and people together where we all grow our own food and make our own clothing (and running shoes -which would be tough!) and only use the energy we make - anyone in? :)

New Book

I just picked up a used copy of Minnesotan, Scott Jurek's book "Eat & Run". I love autobiographies. I can already tell it will be a good read. And there is a whole chapter about Voyageur! Speaking of which the Half Voyageur is now on and it is looking good for the full Voyageur (at least in some form).

18 comments:

you'll have to tell me about Jurek's book. I read a lot of running / climbing / mountaineering books... shame though that the American / English ones are hard to find here therefore to be ordered on Amazon and expensive!

I'd live in your commune for the food but I would have to import my own clothes. Sorry:) Does sugar free gum contribute to bloating? I only chew about 2-3 pieces a day but have been feeling a little thick in the middle lately. Could it be the carbonated water? (But again, I only drink about 500ml of that a day.)

The Vitamin E thing is because it's an antioxidant (but so is selenium, and that's toxic). It is really quite possible for those on a typical American fast food diet to be deficient in Vitamin E.

I can't believe people eat sugar-free anything. They replace sugars with sugar alcohols (xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol) which are laxatives! or with coal tar derivatives (most artificial sweeteners) or unknown-in-nature chemicals (aspartame) or with the new darling stevia, which has never been studied in humans except anecdotally. We're talking about 2-5 calories in gum! Why risk your health for 5 calories?!

Interesting! I did not know Vitamin E is toxic. I know selenium is, in high amounts, but don't we need a small amount? Is is the same deal with vitamin E? How much is toxic? Ok ok, I will look on wikipedia.

I also didn't know I should be alarmed about sugar free gum. Xylitol is touted by the Whole Foods type people as being healthy. I've never shit myself after eating a piece of gum; I don't think it will replace morning coffee! (to be clear, I've never shit myself after coffee either)

I have a friend in Portland who's obsessed with starting a commune. You guys can chat.

Hi- this is totally unrelated to this blog, but hopefully you might answer! I have been avidly reading all your earlier blogs on pregnancy and LOVING them. I am a medium and log distance triathlete and a marathon runner and am very happily 6 weeks pregnant. I am feeling the early fatigue and wondering how much to push through. As an athlete i am obviously used to pushing through the tiredness and fatigue... but now with a little being inside me I want to be sure not to do anything that will actually cause harm. At what point is pushing through the fatigue bad? Obviously I would stop if there was actual pain...

Hi! Unrelated to this, but hopefully you will have some great advice. I am an avid triathlete and marathoner and love it. I am also very happily 6 weeks pregnant and your blogs about that are my current lifeline! I am wondering if you can comment on running through the fatigue... I am starting to feel the fatigue, but am also used to running through it, so am curious at what point it would be harmful? Obviously I would stop if there was pain... but otherwise?

Mapp- just send me an email with your address and I'll send you the copy when we're done reading it. From one running mother to another :). Plus I just love sending things to La France. AND I am so grateful for all of your comments over the years!

Steve- I would only consider Vitamin E deficiency in the differential diagnosis in the following patient:

Paranoid Schizophrenic man of Middleastern descent who believes he is being instructed by God to eat every one of his remaining meals on earth at Dairtý Queen and has a burning sensation in his feet and legs.

Welcome, Maria! Now you and Steve Q have tought me about Selenium being toxic. I did not know that. I remember hearing back in college that there was an association between selenium in the soil and decreased risk of cancer - and I have been pondering that odd fact ever since. I need to look up more information.

Your friend in Portland sounds fun. I would love to chat with him or her. I keep thinking about how to extend the commune idea to an entire region or state. I could write an entire blog post about it - but basically the idea is self-sustaining, no cheap crap from China, no people adding vitamin E to things, etc. Only buying items and food made right there. Hmmm.

Hi Magsky/Margaret! Welcome to you as well! Congrats on your prengnacy! A must do is reading James Clapp's book, which I link to on the side bar. The biggest area of potential risk, as far as I have read is overheating early on in pregnancy. I also have a link to my blog post on this (discussing teratogens...). But the most important is letting your body be your guide and resting, eating and rehydrating when you feel you need it. Good luck! Please stay in touch.

I found this link while looking for ways to become mental stronger during my marathons - and it might interest you. Scroll down and just above the picture of footprints in the sand, you will see links for pregnant running / fitness. Migth interest you or be useful :-)

Hello from Rude Skov

Photo by Stine Sophie Winckel

...

My name is Tracy. I am a physician scientist from the USA, living with my husband and two young boys in Denmark. I work as a post-doc fellow at Næstved Hospital. I have a scientific interest in vision loss, vision loss during exercise, exercise, running during pregnancy, MAF training as well as nutrition and health for athletes. I also have a love for music, physics, statistics, cycling, yoga, cross-country skiing, bla bla bal.

I was a member of Team USA at the IAU World Championships in Ultra Trail Running in 2013 in Wales. I am now training to run with Team Denmark at the IAU World Championships in Annency, France in May 2015.